Casting Twilight's Edward - 9 Actors In the Running Before Robert Pattinson (Including 3 Costars & 1 Actor who Thought It was 'Stupid')

Robert Pattinson‘s portrayal of Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies is iconic, but it almost didn’t happen!

Believe it or not, the actor nearly wasn’t cast over concerns he wasn’t attractive enough for the part.

Yeah, we can’t believe it either!

At the time, Robert had already established himself as an emerging talent in Hollywood with his portrayal of Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies. However, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke revealed the shocking concerns about the actor’s appearance, which almost cost him the role.

Thankfully, the studio saw reason and agreed to cast Robert. He played the lead, sparkling vampire in the blockbuster adaptations of author Stephenie Meyer‘s novels. Of course, he was the right choice. Here’s proof: We recently learned that he is responsible for one of the first movie’s most iconic lines.

Twilight‘s on our minds again following the news that an animated series about the spinoff novel Midnight Sun (which is told from Edward’s point of view) is in the works.

We got curious and looked into who else was in the running to act alongside Kristen Stewart in the mega-popular saga.

Thousands of actors auditioned for the role, but a much smaller list of frontrunners and A-listers were actually considered. The shortlist includes a Schitt’s Creek star, three actors who booked other roles in Twilight and someone who admitted that they later regretted their audition.

It also includes Stephenie‘s first choice for Edward, who only learned that he was in the running years after the fact!

Who all was up for the star-making role? We pulled together a handy list and everything the actors have said about their auditions.

Scroll through the slideshow to see all of Robert Pattinson’s biggest competition for the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight…